Already ‘knows it all’

I was supervising a mature aged student named Ben, who has already had significant experience in the human services field.  I spent the first few days listening to many of his “stories about how he has ‘been there done that’ and so knows what he is talking about”, but when it comes time for Ben to start listening to how things are done in my program he comes across as quite dismissive, telling me ‘not to worry’ as he knows how to handle it. I took Ben with me on a home visit so he could shadow the session, however after being there for five minutes he started to try and take over the session and promised the client he will ‘get their housing sorted out as he knows someone in the Department’. On the way home in the car I could feel the anger and frustration I was feeling boiling up, however rather than discuss it straight away. I thought it was best you take some time to ‘cool off’ and address it later. However, I didn't address this straight away as I was trying to work out what it is that I was concerned or frustrated about, and whether he will even listen to me. Over the next few days, I found myself becoming more and more frustrated by Ben’s ‘know it all attitude’, but for some reason I was uncomfortable to honestly discuss this with him and so ended up finding that I was trying to avoid him instead.

Key Considerations:

  • Ben’s attitude towards placement.
  • Ben’s professional boundaries, insight and awareness
  • My response to Ben and capacity to address my concerns in an appropriate way that facilitated Bens professional development.

What went well:

  • I did not react to Ben when I was feeling angry and annoyed and recognised that I needed to wait and ‘cool off’ to clarify what my actual concerns were.

What didn’t go so well:

  • I did not find an appropriate way to provide feedback to Ben and instead ignored him, which in turn meant that Ben did not have the opportunity to gain insight and awareness around his behaviour which would hopefully lead to change and an improvement in his performance.

What would you do differently next time:

  • When Ben presented with the ‘know it all attitude’ I could have found opportunities to emphasise and remind Ben that although he has had a lot of experience, he is a student on placement and so needs to have a ‘different hat’ on. That he needs to look for opportunities to challenge himself and expand on what he already knows. Suggest that he can do this by not assuming he already knows what to do and to take a step back to observe and listen.
  • I should have sought supervision from my own supervisor so as to clarify what my concerns were and to ensure that I worked through any feelings towards Ben prior to addressing Ben’s performance at the home visit.
  • Once this was achieved I should have sat down with Ben to talk through my concerns and provide feedback about the home visit we attended. This could then have become a regular agenda item for us to discuss during our supervision.